Director Poll: Favorite Martin Scorsese Film • Page 3

The Cape Fear simpsons episode is so ingrained into my mind from childhood I never got around to the movie as something I absolutely needed to see

 

It’s fun. Mid-tier Scorsese but a lot of great energy.

 

Silence is close to my top 10. Man his stuff post Shutter Island is a great run.

 

I can get on with Last Temptation of Christ being his best. That last act is one of the most provocative things in film I can think of.

 

Very hard choice, but I went with Taxi Driver. But I might have picked Irishman had it been an option. It may be a recency bias, but I think about that one more than any of his other films.

 

Well shoot might need to check out Silence finally

 

The Irishman and Silence both are late career masterpieces that are certainly going to grow in recognition as the years pass by.

I think Wolf of Wall Street already has hit classic status in the culture

 

went with taxi driver but i’m disappointed raging bull only got one vote

 

i feel like Taxi Driver has aged very poorly past the 90s

 

was gonna say Hugo as a goof but had to go with Goodfellas it's so indelible in the culture

 

Why?

 

Rewatched Taxi Driver recently and it’s aged impeccably. Misguided white dudes are still turning to what they think is justified violence.

 

sometimes the circumstances around aging poorly arent exactly the fault of the film. shit happens.

in the case of Taxi Driver, incel would be vigilantes really just arent something that should be validated on any level - that the ending of the film can and has been interpreted as literally true, it has arguably done that.

 

It’s so clearly not a validation. It’s told in the first person as an exploration. Scorsese’s willingness to seriously engage with complicated and ugly people is part of why he’s so singular. People misread Wolf of Wall Street but it’s still an exquisite and biting indictment of its protagonist. People are bad at watching movies/consuming media and take away the wrong things from countless works, but that doesn’t take away from their quality.

 

The history of film is full of people misreading the intent of films. Even within Scorsese's filmography, there are people who miss the point of Goodfellas and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Taxi Driver is a masterpiece dealing with the alienation that comes from postwar capitalism. The brutality of that final confrontation makes it very clear that any "saving" that Travis is doing is nothing in comparison to the horrifying actions he has taken. The ending is a criticism of those who would think that what he does is heroic.

 

u guys talking about joker

 

Just like I learned about Cape Fear through the Simpsons, I heard one of Travis Bickle's monologues in a song from The Clash long before I ever saw the movie.

 

unfortunately, I cant be unbiased on this point

im sure theres some less artful film thats technically fine on paper that you loathe because of its impact on culture - maybe a fine band that you hate because their fans suck??

 

Is there really an incel fanbase around Taxi Driver? I doubt they would get behind Bickle's decision to risk it all to save a girl.

 

they call themselves the Bickle Boys

 

googling it returns a fair share of hits actually

 

Something Scorsese also deserves credit for is longevity. Among his New Hollywood peers, the ones that are still alive have mostly faded into irrelevance. Even Steven Spielberg has been far less active these days, but Scorsese's last three films are among his strongest run ever.

 

If the source text itself is sound I don’t hold it against the work.

 

There are nerds that call Joker a masterpiece but have never seen taxi driver or king of comedy, nor do they have any intention to do so.

 

Silence is really good. I only saw it in the theater so I’m due for a rewatch.